Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired
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BEIRUT — The Israeli military said Tuesday it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut while the militant group’s acting leader promised more fighting against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and rocket fire into Israel.
The military said the strike killed Suhail Husseini, who it said was responsible for overseeing logistics, budget and management of the group. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
Sheikh Naim Kassem, the acting leader of Hezbollah, said in a defiant televised statement that his group’s military capabilities are still intact. He said that Hezbollah has replaced all of its senior commanders after weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, including targeted strikes that killed much of its top command in a matter of days.
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday, the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, underscoring their resilience in the face of a devastating Israeli offensive in Gaza that has killed about 42,000 people, according to local medical officials.
A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023. On Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an Israeli strike in the country’s south, part of a wider bombardment, killed at least 10 firefighters. Hezbollah fired new barrages despite its recent losses.
Hezbollah says it has ‘no vacant posts’
“We are firing hundreds of rockets and dozens of drones. A large number of settlements and cities are under the fire of the resistance,” Kassem said in a video address, speaking from an undisclosed location. “Our capabilities are fine and our fighters are deployed along the frontlines.”
He said Hezbollah’s top leadership was directing the war and that the commanders killed by Israel have been replaced. “We have no vacant posts,” he added.
He said that Hezbollah will name a new leader to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a bunker in Beirut last month, “but the circumstances are difficult because of the war.”
The Israeli army said 85 projectiles were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel on Tuesday.
Israel’s aerial defense intercepted most of the rockets, the military said. A 70-year-old woman was moderately wounded by shrapnel and Israeli media aired footage of what appeared to be minor damage to buildings near the coastal city of Haifa.
The military also said that it struck Hezbollah targets in the southern Beirut suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, where the militant group is headquartered.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, the day after Hamas’ surprise attack into Israel ignited the war in Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas are both allied with Iran, and Hezbollah says its attacks are aimed at aiding the Palestinians. Israel has carried out airstrikes in response and the conflict steadily escalated, erupting into a full-fledged war last month.
The Lebanese militant group has said it will stop the attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but months of diplomatic efforts on that front have repeatedly stalled.
Rocket fire intensifies as Israel steps up strikes
Israel has inflicted a punishing wave of blows against Hezbollah in recent weeks and says it will keep fighting until tens of thousands of displaced Israeli citizens can return to their homes in the north.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Lebanon and over a million displaced since the fighting escalated in mid-September.
Since then, Hezbollah has extended its rocket fire into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the country’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have also launched missiles that reached central Israel. Most of the projectiles have been intercepted or fallen in open areas, disrupting life in Israel while causing few casualties and little property damage.
Last, week Iran launched its own barrage of some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, in what it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, an Iranian general who was with him at the time and Ismail Haniyeh, the top leader of Hamas, who was killed in an explosion in Iran’s capital in July.
Israel has vowed to respond to the missile attack, without saying when or how.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington this week to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The Biden administration says it is opposed to an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which could escalate regional tensions even further.
Heavy fighting and evacuation orders in Gaza
Northern Gaza, where heavy fighting raged Tuesday, was the first target of Israel’s ground offensive. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble and Israeli troops have largely isolated the region — which includes Gaza City — since last October, when up to a million people fled to the south following Israeli evacuation orders.
Hundreds of thousands have remained in the north despite the harsh conditions, leading Israel to order another total evacuation in recent days. Israel has barred residents from returning to the north.
Israeli forces are battling Hamas militants in Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Palestinian residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery were pounding Jabaliya as well as Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, towns near the border.
The Israeli military said it killed around 20 militants in airstrikes and ground fighting in Jabaliya. It said troops located a large quantity of weapons, including grenades and rifles.
The nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital said at least 15 people, including two women and four children, were killed Tuesday in the fighting in Jabaliya. It said the dead included four people who were trying to retrieve bodies.
“The situation is extremely difficult. The bombing and explosions haven’t stopped,” said Mahmoud Abu Shehatah, a Jabaliya resident. “It’s like the first days of the war.”
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed around 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. They do not say how many were fighters, but say women and children make up more than half of all fatalities.